An Fei
***SPOILER ALERT: The following content contains major spoilers from the untranslated version of the novel. You have been warned - don't come crying with complaints later! You HAVE been warned!*** "Instead of the heavens, instead of God, I wanted my loving grandfather. But since everything was nothing but a never-ending nightmare, I don't want any of them either. For eternal peace to exist, the variable of God must not exist." - ''An Fei to Pride An Fei is the main protagonist of the novel. Originally an ordinary Chinese citizen in modern Shanghai, An Fei is forcefully dragged into a series of events that ultimately throws her into the ancient and legendary world that was the Shattered Star Continent, as well as the root of everything, the Realm. Appearance Past Life (Mortal) Not much is known regarding An Fei's appearance in her previous life, nor does she talk much about it. Some information that is known and revealed in the sidestory "Two-faced Mirror" includes that An Fei was of standard build for "females of her age," with shoulder-length black hair. Her countenance was described as one of "above-average" beauty, but not much information was disclosed save for the fact that her irises were of a light hazel, but her pupils were tinged with a permanent scarlet hue. Present Mortal Life (Shattered Star Continent) "''When she parted her lips to speak, all creation under the heavens opened their heart to listen." ''-Guo Mingcheng to Wen Jiu'' An Fei's appearance in the Shattered Star Continent, in her description, transcends even the description of a "femme fatale." Fair, milky white skin that was as soft as heavenly mutton jade, with waist-length black hair that "glistened with the dew of spring." A small region of her hair was of an unusual silver color, indicating that the sinister consequences of a Shattered Soul had trickled down even into the mortal worlds. The more danger she is placed in, the acceleration of the transformation from black to silver; when she surmounts the Divine Dao and ascends into the Realm, all of her hair transforms to a brilliant silverly sheen. She has a pair of phoenix eyes with cracked scarlet irises - another indicator of her condition. Described as "fragile" and "doll-like" by An Fei herself, An Fei's overall appearance is considered "inhuman" compared to others. Her voice is as soft as a mosquito unless she invests conscious effort into her speaking, and her voice has an uncanny effect of causing others to subconsciously reveal their heart's desires in a matter of a few directed words. Unknownst to her, her eyes perpetually radiate a thin pulse of divine essence, causing her gaze to always resemble a blank, clueless stare. What Gao Yun Zhi refers to as "static hypnosis," the combination of An Fei's appearance and her voice is a deadly toxin to anyone who had yet to enter the Mortal Tribulation Realm; Xilong deduced the reason to be the mutual nullification effect between the divine essence of the Realm and the spiritual essence of the mortal world. When An Fei becomes enraged, her pupils become hazed with a silvery glow; when her emotions tumble out of control, however, her irises flicker with black shadows. During the period of time that An Fei was in the Shattered Star Continent, she disguised the appearance of her entire body utilizing a special decoction from the Sanctum's Archives. This had great effect in suppressing her appearance to become barely greater than that of an ordinary village girl, and was successfull in eluding the gazes of all mortal cultivators regardless of their individual prowess. Immortals, however, can easily bypass the disguise with a single glance, causing her to suffer countless amounts of teasing from Bai Xing. Personality History Summary Cultivation Abilities Equipment Since her awakening in the Sanctuary, An Fei gathers a sizeable variety of weapons and treasures, many of which clearly belong to the Realm instead of any mortal world. As such, she stands unhindered before any mortal, but her poor selection of martial arts techniques and the increasing presence of Immortals in the Shattered Star Continent greatly hinders their prominence. Standard Equipment An Fei's standard weaponry consists of the following: *Severance, Revelation :: Severance and Revelation are a pair of steel butterfly swords with a common and utilitarian appearance. They are approximately six to seven chi in length, and five centimeters wide - a standardized full size for an adult male. As a result, the swords are rather oversized when compared to An Fei's shorter than average height, but the terror they bring to her enemies makes up for more than the difference. :: Severance and Revelation each possess their unique attributes in that upon combined, they are capable of destroying any existence in the Realm (save for Constructs and Impermutable Creation) with ease, to the point that An Fei often gets into trouble for being unable to properly control her strength. The attributes, passive abilities, and Constructs of both Revelation and Severance are: :*Construct: - isolate, rend, and completely sever the attachment of an object from its roots :*Passive Ability: To desist, to resist :**Severance can affect a wide variety of creation, from inanimate objects to mortals and even Immortals alike. :**The blade phases through all of the defenses constructed by the opponent, and permanently isolates them from their roots. Defensive measures that were a result of a Construct are permanently severed from the Construct, and the latter cannot be utilized to anchor any creation. :**Severance does not make any wound during its cut, albeit the transference of pain cannot be avoided by the enemy. Likewise, when Severance cuts through any creation, it does not alter their exterior form or interior composition, but all function and purpose pertaining to that creation is permanently severed and disabled. :: :: *Attribute: Gate of Death **Once activated, Severance cannot stop its attacks until the opponent is either dead or trapped in a prolonged slumbering state (if Immortal). The sword forces the owner's hand to accomplish its purpose of delivering "Death" to the enemy, and any thoughts of mercy or compassion are forcefully suppressed until the attribute's conditions are fulfilled. **If Severance cannot deliver death or An Fei represses the urge, it cannot be utilized until the opponent that triggered the attribute's activation is killed or put into slumber (if Immortal). *Construct: - expose, and permanently reveal the weaknesses of an object and its roots to all. *Passive Ability: The heart reveals what the eyes see not. **Revelation directly exposes the Construct of any existence, including that of any existence either mortal or Immortal (excluding Progenitors and those with God's Will). **The blade can weave through the tightest of barriers, and releases a trail of divine essence that threads a path to where the Construct is hidden, anchoring it to spatial coordinates. Once the Construct is discovered, Revelation exposes the primary terminology that allows for its continued existence. **Once the Construct is revealed and anchored, even primal, physical attacks can inflict damage without the use of the Divine Language. To cut the tether binding the Construct to real spatial coordinates, the Construct of Revelation itself must be exposed. *Attribute: Gate of Death **Once activated, Revelation cannot stop its attacks until the opponent is either dead or trapped in a prolonged slumbering state (if Immortal). The sword forces the owner's hand to accomplish its purpose of delivering "Death" to the enemy, and any thoughts of mercy or compassion are forcefully suppressed until the attribute's conditions are fulfilled. **If Revelation cannot deliver death or An Fei represses the urge, it cannot be utilized until the opponent that triggered the attribute's activation is killed or put into slumber (if Immortal). :: At one point, Fang Moyun had to confiscate the butterfly swords from An Fei to prevent the latter from shredding apart the Divine Palace that had just completed its reconstruction. :: *Deimos :: Deimos is a plainly adorned qama of half of a standard's blade's length. The sword's dimensions were adjusted to An Fei's height and physique, prompting its reach to be drastically shortened and more akin to a medium-length knife. This prompts An Fei to commonly treat the qama as a hidden blade, often stowing it into her clothes for emergency purposes. Deimos is one of the Gate of Death's most lethal weapons, and is regarded as a cursed weapon even in the Realm. It's Construct exceeds the typical one-word description that is commonly found in artefacts of the Realm, allowing the blade to directly injure even the Progenitors. *Construct: :: The Construct of Deimos is unique compared to all other weapons within the Gate of Death, for the foundational roots exceed the typical one-word limitation imposed onto artefacts created by Immortal Beings. As such, the lethality and overall effectiveness of Deimos greatly exceeds that of standard weaponry, and allows it to bypass the defenses of elevated Immortals with ease. :: By the nature of its Construct, Deimos automatically corrodes and assimilates the Constructs of all other existences around it that are not native to its existence. As such, whenever An Fei wields the qama, traces of divine essence can be discovered in the weapons of her foes; whenever either An Fei or Deimos' Construct desires, the threads of divine essence can be triggered, forcefully deconstructing the physical manifestations of the afflicted objects and rendering their Constructs back into an incompleted state. If the threads are allowed to mature enough, even Immortal Beings can be forced to return into the state of germination, causing them to experience "birth" once more. *Passive Ability: Breath of Terror **Threads of divine essence native to Deimos invades the physical manifestation of any object the edge comes into contact with. If the qama cuts into a living being, then the divine essence invades the bloodstream and the circulating paths of vitality. **Depending on the afflicted target's ability to resist, the time it takes for their Construct (or soul, if mortal) to dissolve into its fundamental roots can be anywhere between a few seconds and days - even months if the target is a Heavenly Immortal or greater. If the afflicted target is a mortal soul, the soul is enslaved to the qama's will until it decomposes. The extensiveness of the commands that the enslaved souls can enact depend on An Fei's capability to handle the Divine Script and her Construct. **The effects of Deimos' Construct cannot be halted, but can be delayed through panaceas and medicinal implements. For Immortals, they can request the Divine Immortal Vein to clear to blockage corroding their Construct, but for mortals, only death awaits their presence. *Passive Ability: Deimos' Revelation **When An Fei experiences fear, the secondary nature of Deimos' Construct comes to light. The edge of the qama becomes incomparably sharp, and each strike from its blade is aimed directly towards the opponent's soul without fail. The Breath of Terror's instantaneous effects are diminished proportionally to the fear consuming An Fei. **With each strike from Deimos, the opponent's soul is hurled into an illusory state in which they are to confront their deepest fears and desires. As the opponent's soul combats its turbulent emotions, any damage inflicted and sustained by either party is transferred onto their Construct. During this time, the degree of realism supported within the illusion can be magnified if An Fei lands additional attacks. **If An Fei frees herself from her fear, Deimos' illusion is suspended. The opponent's soul is not released from its hallucinatory state until either it or its desires are completely eliminated; if the Immortal Being has ever indulged themselves in the effects of a heart crystal stone, they suffer prolonged sequalae that is described as "cutting deep into marrow, thousand cuts to the soul." *Attribute: Gate of Death **As Deimos is a weapon native to the Gate of Death, its Construct does not affect any other weapon originating from the Gate of Death. Any weapons that are artificially assimilated into the Gate of Death, however, are immediately brought under the control of Deimos by the nature of its Construct (the weapons themselves do not transfer any secondary effects onto An Fei). *Curse of Mesperyian :: The Curse of Mesperyian is a variate-shaped artefact that possesses neither distinct form nor property save for its Construct's primary foundations as an "instrument for dealing pain, punishment, and delivering death". As such, it commonly exists in the lucid form of a small ring forged from thin silver, with light engravings containing words in an unknown, archaic language. When An Fei requires it, she can manipulate the shape and dimensions of the Curse of Mesperyian by her thoughts and desires, but oftentimes the forms it can manifest are limited. *Construct: - The forms it can take are unknown, but the desire of administering punishment and death remain clear. *Passive Ability: Physical Manipulation **As long as An Fei retains a clear impression regarding the shape of an artefact designed to either injure, main, or kill, the Curse of Mesperyian possesses the ability to morph into said artefact. The composition of such artefact needs not be known; only the physical form is required. **The Curse of Mesperyian has unlimited potential in manipulating its dimensional size, but the mass of the manipulated form remains the same regardless of what An Fei transforms it into. To compensate for the disadvantages when it comes to wielding an object that has an improperly balanced mass to size ratio, the Curse of Mesperyian continually radiates with fluctuating divine essence. **Objects that contain a complicated internal structure or require mechanical interaction between internal components cannot be replicated by the Curse of Mesperyian. As such, An Fei cannot transform the ring into an object that falls outside of the cold weapons hierarchal system (i.e., cannot make firearms). *Attribute: Gate of Origin :: The Curse of Mesperyian belongs to a more fluid, transformative class of artefacts as compared to the butterfly swords Severance and Revelation, or the qama Deimos which primary focus is the emphasis on delivering a certain phenomenon on a selected foe. Instead, the Curse of Mesperyian serves as an instrument of origin (as per its Construct), allowing the user to vividly alter the weapon into a form they deem feasible. The intrinsic power is significantly weaker than that of the artefacts from the other Gates, but a creative and innovative user can micromanage the Construct to its maximum potential that far surpasses the latter. :: Before An Fei's soul recovered to an extent that it could support continuous processing of the martial arts technique in addition to manipulating the Curse of Mesperyian's physical form, Xilong was primarily responsible for actually forcing the ring to change its shape to the form An Fei needed. By communicating her thoughts through the spiritual channel engraved in her body, An Fei could relay the form she desired, and Xilong manipulated the ring into physical manifestation. When An Fei had recovered enough to enter the Channel of Origin, the Curse of Mesperyian was automatically slotted around her finger. :: The handle-less sword was An Fei's favorite and most commonly displayed form, even if the original sword was created from the martial arts technique and not necessarily an effective weapon to wield. *Practice Sword :: A taijijian An Fei looted from a failed assassination attempt on her body during her stay at Dong Lin City. Feeling its visual appearance rather elegant to the eye, she salvages two and throws them into the Sanctuary, which then results in the two practice swords becoming artificial weapons of the Gate of Death. When An Fei has recovered to the point that Xilong can emerge from its seclusion and physically manifest, the scarlet dragon brands the two swords with its spiritual imprint, allowing it to manifest in the Shattered Star Continent as well. *Construct: - a simple sword - no, really, nothing but a simple sword. An Fei couldn't find anything else in its Construct except for "sword." *Passive Ability: Increased durability, enhanced sharpness. **Having received the blessing of the scarlet dragon Xilong, the taijijian's durability was reinforced, and the sharpness of the edge was enhanced to a horrifying extent compared to its rather dull and useless appearance. From the scarlet dragon's speculation, An Fei could toss the sword into a scorching furnace surpassing thousands of degree Celsius, and the blade wouldn't even sport a scorch mark, much less damage its tempering. *Attribute: None (Gate of Death) **Because the taijijian (both of them) are artificially imbued artefacts of the Gate of Death and not actually constructed by its envoy, the two taijijian do not receive any specific blessings relevant to the Gate of Death. However, because they received the blessing of an Immortal Being, the practice swords sustain a minimal thread of divine essence - making them comparably lethal to mortal cultivators. :: The taijijian is kept around solely for its appearance, and because An Fei needed a substitute weapon after having her twin butterfly swords robbed by Yang Jian. Once she retrieved them after the battle on Tianfeng City, the taijijian was returned back to the Sanctum in times of combat. Before she realized that Xilong could shift its soul onto any weapon that supported its spiritual imprint, the taijijian was always placed on top of a dresser. :: Whenever someone, either a mortal or Immortal, declares themself a "genius" in anything - particularly, martial arts - An Fei refuses to use any weapon of the Gate of Death save for the taijijian. Otherwise, she does everything she can to remain alive and safe. Ten Disciplinary Channels The Ten Disciplinary Channels contain a set of treasures and equipment that best reflect the manifestation of their Constructs, namely allowing An Fei to manipulate existence beyond the normal capabilities of an Immortal Being. The Sanctuary holds a total of five of such artefacts, combining the Constructs into a binary, layered form in the following: *Fan of Life and Death *Parasol of Harmony and Discord *Amulet of Pain and Peace *Knife of Origin and Liberation *Robes of Suffering and Insanity Each of these five artefacts are inherently sealed by the envoys responsible for managing the Ten Disciplinary Channels and its affairs; for An Fei to be able to utilize any of the five artefacts, she must obtain the consent from both envoys associated with the artefact. The Fan of Life and Death was an exception to this rule, however, as Pride forced both envoys of the Gates of Life and Death to acquiesce before An Fei even arrived onto the Shattered Star Continent. The artefacts of the Ten Disciplinary Channels allow for An Fei to manipulate their Constructs without actually being associated with them, as would it be required of other Immortals. However, the practical usage of these artefacts have been put into question by the envoys themselves, much less An Fei. *The Fan of Life and Death :: "Just what kind of Immortal would ever die to a stupid fan?" :: The Fan of Life and Death is a plain folding fan with a pair of jade clasps embedded into either end. When the leavs are unfurled, however, it is revealed that paper is colored differently; Life was written in white with a black background, and Death was enshrined in a sea of white. :: When the fan is revealed, the surrounding environment is permanently changed by the nature of whichever side of the fan is facing in its direction. If "Death" shines upon an object or existence, the targeted existence is forcefully eroded to the concluding fringes of its lifespan; inanimate objects crumble into dust or their final form while their quality, purity, or density decreases, while living creatures accelerate in life and approach death. The converse is true; should "Life" be bestowed onto an object, the object would increase in its density as well as quality and purity, while living creatures would reduce in age and return to their former phases of existence. The only factor of which existence either deteriorates or invigorates depends on the duration of time that the fan's leaves are exposed to the world. Depending on the date of death, the Fan of Life and Death can even cause a physical ressurection of a person, although their soul will not remain. :: Because Immortals cannot die or age by nature, they are completely immune to the effects of the Fan of Life and Death. This often brings great humiliation for the envoy of both Disciplinary Channels, for they are practically useless if An Fei is not within a mortal world (every Immortal with said attributes of life and death face the same frustrations). *Parasol of Harmony and Discord *Amulet of Pain and Peace *Knife of Origin and Liberation *Robes of Suffering and Insanity Relationships